The general tone at the press conferences after the meeting between the P5+1 and Iran was different this time.  The meeting lasted seven and a half hours, in Geneva.

European negotiator and the person who has been with this process solidly over all these years, Javier Solana, appeared energized.  He admitted it was different.  He told Fox News the presence of Under Secretary of State William Burns had made a difference.  Not just his presence, as a symbol of commitment to reaching a diplomatic settlement with Iran, but for his ideas and what he brought to the table.  For that, Solana said, the group was richer.

Burns had been at P5+1 last summer.  But more as an observer.  This time he engaged fully and even had a 45 minute sidebar meeting with the Iranian Chief Nuclear Negotiator Saeed Jalili during which they discussed a whole range of issues.

What got the most attention out of the meeting was the fact that there will be another one. 

Enough progress apparently was made for that, and it should happen later this month.

Then, the fact that the Iranians have agreed, in principle, to ship the lion’s share of their enriched uranium stockpile to Russia.  There it will be enriched to a slightly higher level, placed in assemblies, and shipped back to Iran for use in a research reactor, for use in making medical isotopes.

This is significant, according to Senior U.S. Administration officials, because it involves cooperation, confidence building and alleviates concerns about what is being done with Iran’s enriched uranium in the short term.

The research facility in Tehran is apparently solidly under IAEA safeguards.

The other tangible—the fact that Iran has agreed to inspections of its previously secret facility near Qom.  Solana says that will happen within a couple of weeks.

Of course these are all steps which step around the big issue which remains unresolved—the demand via 5 UN Security Council resolutions—for Iran to stop enriching uranium.  But what senior U.S. administration officials said is that these are practical steps.

Javier Solana held one press conference.  Saeed Jalili held another.  Jalili railed against journalists for focusing on what he called false threats and ignoring real threats.  He called us “media terrorists”. 

An Israeli reporter asked him whether or not Iran really wants Israel wiped off the map.  Jalili took his translation head set off.  He would not even hear the question out.  He would not respond.

Jalili called on Fox next so I asked him to answer the question. He only spoke about the suffering of the Palestinians and their need for a state.

I also asked Jalili how he felt the atmosphere at this meeting differed from the last one and he said that the P5+1 had given the Iranian proposal for cooperation on various other issues, including the economy and world security, more consideration this time.

So something has clearly advanced.  It is not clear whether whatever dynamic that is in place will lead to the resolution of concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

On the one hand, we have heard that this can’t go on forever before.  And it goes on.  On the other hand, this meeting seemed to have taken a slightly different tone from previous summits.  There is still a fair amout of the parties talking past each other.  Plenty of distrust.  But the buzzwords out of tonight were rapid and intense—the way the P5+1 are now calling this phase of the diplomatic process which by most accounts has until the end of the year to prove itself viable or a failure.